{"id":1714,"date":"2026-06-11T10:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2026-06-11T10:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:06:22","slug":"fbi-shutters-covert-chinese-websites-targeting-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714","title":{"rendered":"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

Federal authorities on Wednesday shut down 13 internet domains said to be used by China for operations to obtain classified and sensitive U.S. government information, the Justice Department said.<\/p>\n

Read more Republicans troll Platner with his domain name in opening salvo of Maine Senate race<\/a><\/p>\n

The internet sites were used by Chinese actors to recruit Americans and others with access to secret information while posing as fraudulent professional consulting services, according to a department statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fake consulting company domains seized by the FBI illustrate the lengths the Chinese government\u2019s intelligence services will go to as they try to use AI-generated content to trick, recruit, or coerce current and former U.S. security clearance holders into sharing sensitive information,\u201d said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant FBI director for counterintelligence and espionage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI and our partners have observed China\u2019s intelligence services resort to using AI, professional networking sites, and online payment platforms to target Americans, and we have taken actions to defend the homeland and our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

An FBI affidavit made public in the case states that the websites were uncovered by an investigation into unlawful activities by China.<\/p>\n

The websites were based in Arizona, New York, Germany and Britain and were linked to fake consulting companies that targeted secret information, the affidavit said.<\/p>\n

Unidentified conspirators paid recruited agents in the U.S. for information as part of the scheme by using aliases, fictitious personas, and stolen identities of people and used artificial intelligence-generated photographs to build credibility.<\/p>\n

The spying efforts made large online payments for research reports that were transmitted via Telegram and other encrypted applications.<\/p>\n

The goal was to obtain \u201cexclusive\u201d or \u201cinsider\u201d information through job postings on LinkedIn and other job search sites including Upwork, Expertia AI, Hubstaff Talent, Wellfound, and Post Job Free.<\/p>\n

All the information sought was data sought by China.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conspirators have targeted U.S. persons, including current and former security clearance holders with access to classified and sensitive U.S. government information\u2026,\u201d the affidavit said. \u201cThey have recruited these individuals for phony positions such as Senior Analyst and International Affairs Consultant and pressured them to share confidential information and reports from \u2019insider\u2019 sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those involved in the alleged conspiracy used contracts and confidentiality agreements to hide the illegitimacy of the activities and denied involvement with foreign governments.<\/p>\n

Read more Administration plans intensive, year-round construction schedule for Trump\u2019s triumphal arch<\/a><\/p>\n

Two of the suspects in the case are located overseas, the court papers stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese domain seizures offer a glimpse at how foreign actors can use promises of easy money to lure Americans into revealing sensitive or classified information that they are duty\u2011bound to protect,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg.<\/p>\n

Special Agent in Charge Daniel Wierzbicki at the FBI\u2019s Washington Field Office Counterintelligence and Cyber Division said the domain shutdowns will prevent the targeting of Americans with access to secrets.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, the Chinese government has tried to exploit U.S. government employees behind the cover of fake companies and phony job postings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dominique Evans, FBI special agent in charge of Norfolk, said the Chinese government continues to seek U.S. innovation, research and sensitive data through a variety of deceptive techniques, including online recruitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy seizing these domains and exposing these tactics, we are working to protect national security, safeguard American ingenuity, and help the public recognize and defend against these threats,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The following domains were shuttered based on accusations of conspiracy to commit bribery, identity theft and international money-laundering: Centrik Global Consulting, centrikglobalconsulting.com; Rightinfo Consulting, rightinfoconsult.com; Finnacle-Vesper Consulting, finnaclevesperconsulting.com; CYDF Consulting, cydfconsulting.com; Pulse Wave Global, pulsewaveglobal.com; Catalyst Global Solutions, catalystglobalsolutions.com; Horizzen, thehorizzen.com; GeoIndopacific, geoindopacific.com; Global Peace Foundation \u2013 Indonesia, gpf-ina.org; SafeSec Group, safesec-group.com; The TruthInfo, thetruthinfo.com; Vandercons.com; and Gulf Peace Foundation, gulfpeace.org.<\/p>\n

Navigating to the websites produces a notice stating that \u201cThis website has been seized as part of a coordinated law enforcement operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Action against the websites follows a report from the FBI and Britain\u2019s MI5 spy agency made public last week warning that Chinese military intelligence services are using LinkedIn and other professional networking services to obtain secrets from security clearance holders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese actors use an aggressive online recruitment strategy whereby intelligence officers or their affiliates pose as employees of private consultancies, think tanks or human resources firms, and place online job advertisements for foreign policy and defense analysts (or similar),\u201d the warning notice stated.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump has a new, surprising take on the higher cost of living: \u2018I love the inflation\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal authorities on Wednesday shut down 13 internet domains said to be used by China for operations to obtain classified and sensitive U.S. government information, the Justice Department said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-security"],"yoast_head":"\nFBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets - Home Buyer Relocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Federal authorities on Wednesday shut down 13 internet domains said to be used by China for operations to obtain classified and sensitive U.S. government information, the Justice Department said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Buyer Relocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T10:06:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a\"},\"headline\":\"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T10:06:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714\"},\"wordCount\":778,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Security\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714\",\"name\":\"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets - Home Buyer Relocation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T10:06:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?p=1714#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home Buyer Relocation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homebuyerrelocation.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets - Home Buyer Relocation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets - Home Buyer Relocation","og_description":"Federal authorities on Wednesday shut down 13 internet domains said to be used by China for operations to obtain classified and sensitive U.S. government information, the Justice Department said.","og_url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714","og_site_name":"Home Buyer Relocation","article_published_time":"2026-06-11T10:06:22+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a"},"headline":"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets","datePublished":"2026-06-11T10:06:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714"},"wordCount":778,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg","articleSection":["News","Security"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714","url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714","name":"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets - Home Buyer Relocation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-11T10:06:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/920a9d799d6107333bf4fee174e89739.jpg","width":1200,"height":700},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1714#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FBI shutters covert Chinese websites targeting secrets"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/","name":"Home Buyer Relocation","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b2ac56955b020950324cad4c6c27b42a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com"],"url":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}